Scraps
by Quig Alchemist
Summary: [oneshot] Meryl is making a scrapbook and notices that many of the pictures from her past are of a man in a red coat with wild blonde hair. It has to be Vash's dad! she decides...or is it?


This is something that has been floating around in my brain/lovely notebook for a while now. I decided to type it up, so here it is. I don't own anything Trigun, so don't bite my head off. I like it where it is…

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Scraps

Meryl lifted the lid off a particularly dusty brown box. Inside it laid hundreds of faded, some of which were ripped, photographs. She picked up one carefully, as she sat on the rugged floorboards, and looked at the two smiling people.

The photo was of her mother and father, John and Lydia Strife. They both wore plain clothes and held their only daughter in their arms. Her mother was short like her and had Meryl's eyes. Her father had her black hair, completing Meryl's most prominent features.

She set the photograph down by her side and opened a leather-bound burgundy book with clean white pages. She smoothed over the pages affectionately and looked around to the sea of pictures surrounding her. She bit her lip, unsure of which memory to use for the first page of her scrapbook.

Meryl finally selected a photo of her and her parents. She stood in the picture holding her mom's hand in between her and her dad as a five-year-old child. Her younger self had a smile of pure delight on her face. A solid black cat with lime eyes was cradled in her tiny arms. They were happier times that were now gone with the whistle of the desert winds. And yet, they still reminded Meryl of her old smile.

The girl fished around in the box for another piece of history and came across a rather mysterious picture. A man was holding Meryl as a baby sporting a bright red coat. She couldn't see his top of his face. Whoever had taken the picture had cut off the photo above his nose. The only thing left was a genuine smile that seemed somewhat familiar…

"Wait a minute…" Meryl shuffled through more pictures in a hasty curiosity. The same man in red with wild blonde hair continuously appeared in many of the photos, many of which showed him laughing with her parents. Although it seemed that his back was turned…or maybe his face was covered. Either way, she just couldn't seem to get a good look at his face.

Meryl placed down the pictures, sighing and gazed around the room somewhat frustrated. Her eyes eventually rested upon a framed photograph on the mantle piece of her, her best friend Millie, and the lovable goofball Vash the Stampede. They were all smiling as Vash wrapped an arm around both of the Insurance Girls.

Then a thought hit her about the mysterious man in the pictures: _That guy must be Vash's dad! Small world! Our parents knew each other!_

"Hey there Meryl! Whatcha up to?" The cheerful stampede bounded up behind her wearing a bright smile. He bent over, looking at the photos spread around on the floor curiously with his sparkling blue eyes.

Meryl was quiet for a moment and looked up at the tall man hovering over her.

"Just making a scrapbook…" she said casually, picking up another photo.

"Fun! Can I help?"

"Sure." Vash sat down next to Meryl and waited for his orders. Screwing this up could mean a severed head if he didn't watch out. Then she timidly said, "Hey Vash?"

"Hmm?" he said with a curious smile.

"What do you remember about your father?" The man looked down at the rugged carpet in mild surprise. He seemed lost in thought to the girl, but was really unsure of what to say.

"I don't really remember anything at all…Let's just say he wasn't an important factor as I grew up." He glanced sideways at Meryl cheerfully raising his head again. "Why do you ask anyway?" She silently handed him the photo of the man in red holding her as a newborn baby.

Vash gasped with excitement and looked at the picture more closely.

"Hey! I remember that!" Then his face changed into a look of guilt as he squinted from his sudden words. The color in his skin washed pale and he muttered a quiet, "Oh…"

Meryl stared at him in shock and disbelief, clearly giving the man a 'huh?' look.

"That was you wasn't it?" Vash asked softly, rubbing his finger along the edge of the photo lightly. "I had almost forgotten…" He looked down thoughtfully and eventually continued. "Your mom took that you know. She was a bit short, so she kind of cut off my head. She always seemed to do that…" He smiled gently, remembering the time over 20 years ago.

"How did you know my parents? You're too young to have known them. I mean...you still look like you did back then." Meryl questioned him with wide eyes, still unsure of how to react.

"One day, I happened to be passing through a small town and I heard screams from the house down the road." Vash looked Meryl straight in the eyes as he spoke. "I looked in the window and saw a pregnant woman and two men inside. One of them was her husband that stood in front of her protectively, and the other held the two at gunpoint. The man holding the gun was a bandit that seemed to be demanding valuables, but the couple had none to give." He cleared throat and knit his fingers together. "Then I intervened, to put it lightly, saving their lives and indirectly saving yours. Over the next few months, Lydia and John became my very good friends. I was still around when you were born, and right after that was when that picture was taken. A bit later, I moved on. I knew I would be putting them and you in danger, so I thought it best to leave."

"Why do you look like that then? That part still doesn't make sense to me." Meryl was desperately piecing the answers together. Vash gazed out the window, searching for the right words to explain.

"Do you remember when I told you that my brother and I were plants?" She nodded softly and kept her eyes intensely focused on him. "Well, plants can live for years on end if their power doesn't get used up and never seem to grow older. It's like the Fountain of Youth for our species. Like my brother, I looked to be at least eight at only a year old. I know I told you that I was 24 when we met, but then just wasn't the time to explain."

"So how long have you been '24'? How old are you really?" Meryl inquired, as the information began to sink in.

"Over 150." Vash looked to the raven-haired girl as her eyes glazed over at such an enormous number. He could see that she was speechless. "Meryl?" he began softly, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You okay?"

"You were a part of me I never knew existed." she whispered and looked at the blonde man with her hazy violet eyes.

Over the next hour, the two swapped stories of her parents as they assembled Meryl's photo album. They pieced the scraps together, finally completely the book. As they both closed it with a hollow thud, two serene smiles lit up the room, entailing that the same man Meryl's life started with would surely be there till the end of it as well.

The End

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A strange thought that would most likely never happen. Oh well, hope it was worth the read. Leave me a review! Thankies!

Quig


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